Considerable expense is involved in the construction of a machine room for an elevator. The expense includes the cost of constructing the machine room, the structure required to support the weight of the machine room and elevator equipment, and the cost of shading adjacent properties from sunlight (e.g., sunshine laws in Japan and elsewhere).
It is an object of the present invention to provide an elevator system without a machine room which avoids the above-mentioned drawbacks associated with prior elevator systems.
It is a further object of the present invention to employ flat rope technology to reduce the size of the drive motor and sheaves so that either conventional or flat drive motors may be placed within the space between the elevator car and sidewall of the hoistway.